Creating an outline from a rule line? Can you do that in InDesign?

Question

I want to outline a 12 pt stroked rule line in an InDesign document.
Piece of cake in Illustrator but can this be done in InDesign?

Answer 1

Hi Thomas,
As long as the line is strictly horizontal or vertical, the following script will do the trick:
//ConvertRuleToBox.jsx
//An InDesign CS3 JavaScript
//Converts the selected rule to a frame.
main();
function main(){
if(app.selection.length != 0){
  if(app.selection[0].constructor.name == "GraphicLine"){
   var myGraphicLine = app.selection[0];
   var myFillColor = myGraphicLine.strokeColor;
   var myPointA = myGraphicLine.paths.item(0).pathPoints.item(0);
   var myPointB = myGraphicLine.paths.item(0).pathPoints.item(1);
   if((myPointA.anchor[1] == myPointB.anchor[1])||(myPointA.anchor[0] == myPointB.anchor[0])){
    var myBounds = app.selection[0].visibleBounds;
    myGraphicLine.paths.item(0).entirePath = [
      myBounds[1],
      myBounds[0]
      myBounds[1],
      myBounds[2]
      myBounds[3],
      myBounds[2]
      myBounds[3],
      myBounds[0]
    myGraphicLine.paths.item(0).pathType = PathType.CLOSED_PATH;
    myGraphicLine.strokeWeight = 0;
    myGraphicLine.fillColor = myFillColor;
   else{
    alert("Please select a horizontal or vertical graphic line and try again.");  
  else{
   alert("Please select a graphic line and try again.");
If the line is at an angle, it'll take a more complicated script.:-)
Thanks,
Ole